All is fair in Love and War
by AnneAquila
Summary: Darling Charming has managed to woo Raven Queen. They are Ever After High's most spellebrated couple and Briar Beauty's OTP. However, how does Apple feel about it? Yep, that's right, she's jealous - Super jealous.
1. prologue

Hello again, folks! This is once again Aquila presenting you with a new fic under a different topic, Ever After High, detouring from my original fanfic topic - scorose. I just finished watching Dragon Games, and there were too many Rapple (raven X apple) as well as Queen Charming (darling X raven) moments to resist. I LUV both of these awesome ships and will go down with them, to the very end. The only thing I need now is for Mattel (the producer) to actually make at least one of them canon. This is also my first ever chapter story, so please support me! Just so you know, this fic is dedicated to Quicksilver, my ever faithful reviewer. Hope you have a 'hexcellent' time reading this!

Prologue

The castleteria was loaded with fairytale characters. Raven quickly wove in and out of the hungry students and plopped herself down next to her BFFA, Madeline Hatter who was happily chattering away to her girlfriend, Kitty Cheshire while sipping a cup of charm blossom and chamomile tea. Next to her was Cerise Hood, another close friend. She was sighing dreamily and hadn't even touched the steak on her plate. That was SO un – cerise. Usually she would have wolfed down her lunch and scooted away before Raven would arrive. She followed the trail of her gaze, which ended on a certain Rosabella Beauty.

So that was how it was.

Cerise was lovesick.

Before she could ask Cerise about it, there was a loud shout.

"Attention, all fairytale characters!"

Wait, was that Darling?

Darling had leapt on to one of the lunch tables. She was kitted out in her dragon game armour and held her helmet with its blue feathered plume in her hand. With her shiny, almost white hair streaked with blue highlights and her cool charming attitude, she certainly did look rather dashing. 

"I'm here to make an announcement!"

A murmur of surprise ran through the crowd. Darling was always pretty quiet. She had never made public speeches before.

"This is addressed to Raven Queen!"

WHAT?

All eyes turned to her.

Darling jumped off the table in a graceful athletic leap and slowly walked over to her. She stopped when they were about 60 cm apart.

"I know you're not a princess. I know you're not a damsel-in-distress. You're so much more than that. You're a Queen. And that's why I wanted to ask you,"

Darling dropped down on to one knee and grasped Raven's hand in hers. She turned up to look at her with her beautiful glittery ice blue eyes.

"Will you let me be your Prince Charming?"

There was pin drop silence in the castleteria.

"And that, my good brother, is how you charm a lady!" Daring said to his brother Dexter, gazing on proudly at Darling.

He didn't see Dexter's face when he said it.

His face was torn in a whirlwind of emotions – hurt, love, inferiority and utter helplessness. See, Dexter had had a huge crush on Raven for the longest time, but he never got around to actually telling her. After one very awkward date where they had held hands in a purely platonic way, Dexter had pretty much gave up on telling Raven how he felt.

Coupled with the fact that he had a brother who outshone him in everything, as well as possessing the utterly uncanny ability of attracting attention from nearly every girl by just flashing his legendary blinding smiles and a quick 'charm you later!', Dexter always felt pretty small compared to Daring.

Now, seeing his own twin, Darling sweep Raven – the girl of his dreams – off her feet was a pretty low blow to his already insignificant ego. It was such a bummer.

Meanwhile, Raven was still standing speechless, trying to put together a coherent sentence.

She then knelt down to Darling's level and stammered out a quick yes.

Darling leapt to her feet, lifting up Raven with her, and leant in to kiss her.

Joyous woops resounded around the castleteria.

Briar was screaming wildly.

"I SHIP IT !"

Maddie was pulling out streamers and confetti out of her hat and yelling "HATTASTIC!". Kitty teleported with her up to the ceiling beams and shot Raven her famous Cheshire cat grin.

Cerise Hood and her sister, Ramona Badwolf were yelling too.

"QUEEN CHARMING FOR THE WIN ! HOWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLL !"

C A Cupid smiled. True love always won in the end.

The once eerily silent hall erupted into pandemonium that would do madness in wonderland justice.

The only few people who were not rejoicing were Dexter, as you know for obvious reasons.

The other person was Apple White.

Apple stood silently in a corner, staring frozen at Darling and Raven who were kissing. Like real kissing. KISSING. Apple's heart clenched painfully at the sight. Raven's beautiful wavy black locks...her gorgeous violet eyes in which Apple could happily drown in...her slim, petite figure that was so light that even Darling could lift it and swing her around...her berry lips that were now being kissed by a girl that wasn't her.

Yep. Apple White, the daughter of Ever After High's most prestigious student, Her Majesty Queen Snow White was in love with her own fairy tale's villain – Raven Queen.

And she didn't know what to do about it.


	2. Chapter 1

Hello again Ever After High Fans!

Aquila here. I got such a good response from all of you, around 120 views (spelltacular!), so I decided to post my next chapter. Thank you for all your support and keep reviewing. You can send me requests and prompts for any EAH ship too, and I'll be really charmed to do it for you.

 **Chapter 1**

Apple White was in a fix.

Here she was, sitting outside her favourite cafe, the Hocus Latte, in the fableous village of Book End, with her BFFA Briar Beauty. They were sipping their favourite drinks and were surrounded by innumerable shopping bags. Usually, Apple would be rather reluctant to abandon school and go on a shopping spree with the fairytale world's biggest fashionista – Briar Beauty, but she needed something to distract her.

As of lately, the school was buzzing with news of Darling and Raven. They were the school's power couple, Briar Beauty's OTP for life as well as the most popular ship to have ever existed at Ever After High. They even had a name – Queen Charming. Every single romantic moment that they shared was immediately posted by Blondie on her mirror blog, and got like a zillion likes in the very next minute. Lizzie Hearts had started a line of Queen Charming merchandise too, the most fableous (according to Briar) was the wristband which had their logo – an intertwined sword and a purple feather, with the slogan – ' **RQ + DC 4 ever after!'**. And to make things even more worse, there was a brand new hair style introduced by Poppy in her hair salon. Fairytale characters could get their hair streaked in light blue and purple to commemorate Queen Charming. Holly had said that Poppy had never got so much business before! And it wasn't only Ever After High, the village of Book End and every other kingdom in the land (even Wonderland and the land of the giants), including her own, shipped Queen Charming.

Apple found it ridiculous, as well as heartbreaking.

After the incident at the castleteria, Apple had secretly hoped that no one would like them much. She thought that the others would whisper behind their backs and be rude to Darling because she preferred girls. That wish disappeared when the whole world decided to spellebrate it. Then, she thought that maybe Darling would be really awkward with Raven, like her humiliating date with Dexter, but no, Darling's every single action was incredibly romantic. Blondie's blog had stated that her recent polling to find out who was the most charming date had declared Darling as the winner, leaving her brother Daring in the dust. Even apple couldn't deny that.

So when Briar had so kindly invited her to go on a super hexiting shopping spree, Apple consented and thought that it would be a welcome distraction.

Little did she know that Briar was shopping for colour coordinated clothes.

With of course, light blue and purple colours.

Apparently, Blondie had introduced a new competition on her mirror blog to find out who was Queen Charming's greatest shipper.

And Briar was desperate to win.

"So you think I can do it?"

Apple pulled herself out of her depressing reverie of thoughts to pay attention to what Briar was yammering about.

"I mean, the outfit I have planned really portrays Queen Charming. At least, I think so. The blue chiffon skirt is sooo Darling. And that piece of antique armour was such a lucky find! Though that rusty breastplate and those shoulder pads look rather uncomfortable. I wonder how Darling wears it. All it needs is a coat of polish. I managed to get a silver collar with amethysts too, and a look alike of those killer boots Raven wears. I have an appointment with Poppy to get my hair dyed, and gods, that was a nightmare! There were so many people who wanted to get their hair streaked with Queen Charming, but I managed to pull a few favours with Holly to get mine booked first. Oh, and I made an awesome headdress with blue and purple feathers too. I think I got this completion in the bag. Cedar, Farrah and Maddie don't stand a chance. It's gonna be sooo spelltacular!"

Cedar spotted them and walked over.

"Did someone say I don't stand a chance? Well, guess what Briar, I finished making the most hexcellent poster with my new acrylics just a few minutes ago. I'm so gonna win this thing, no lie!"

Maddie appeared beside them and immediately started pulling out cups of tea out of her hat.

"Hey guys! You heard about Blondie's competish right? Well, I've made the most hatastic tea set in the entire history of hatastic tea sets. It has hand drawn fan art of Raven and Darling as well as this really cool thingamajig that shouts out " **I ship Queen Charming!"** I actually made it for Raven's birthday, and then I found out about Blondie's new competition so I thought I'd enter it for that instead. And even if I don't win it, Lizzie promised me she'd buy the patent for her new line of queen charming merchandise. Can you believe it?!"

"Wait a second, did you say RAVEN'S BIRTHDAY?!" asked Briar in a strangled voice.

"Yeah, it's on Nov 25th. Didn't you know?"

"No I didn't. We have to totally put a super spelltacular birthday bash! Oh my god, isn't Nov 25th in like, a week? WE HAVE SO LITTLE TIME !" yelled Briar.

"Did someone say birthday bash? Dibs on the music!" Melody said as she walked out of the cafe.

"And I'll totally help out with the singing!" cried out Meeshell.

Briar leapt onto the table and pulled out a piece of paper and began scribbling furiously.

"Ok guys, let's plan properly. Melody and Meeshell are in charge of the music. Ginger, will you take care of the food and refreshments? You know what Raven likes and your cooking's the best in the entire school. Holly, could you help her out? That would be awesome. Lizzie, Farrah and Ashlynn, you guys are in charge of the Raven's surprise party outfit. Bunny, Cupid could you do the decorations? I'll ask Blondie to take care of the invitations. Oh, and by the way, Raven can't know about this. It's gonna be a totally spelltacular surprise. Maddie and Cerise, I'm gonna need your help here. You two are Raven's best friends, so you have to distract her and do whatever it takes to keep her from knowing about this, ok? HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

"Hey, what about me?" called out Cedar.

"I'm going to give you the most important job of all, Cedar. You have to make the present. Since you're so good at painting, I'm gonna ask you to paint a huge portrait of Darling and Raven together. You gotta make it look absolutely amazing. We'll put it in a really pretty frame so that Raven can hang it up on the wall and always be reminded of her wonderlandiful girlfriend." sighed Briar dreamily.

"Wait a splinter, should we let Darling know about this?"

"Yes of course. She knows Raven inside out. Maybe she'll have some hexcellent ideas that we could use. I'll talk to her later."

Everyone started moving away gradually. Ashlynn and Blondie were the only ones left with them.

"If this party doesn't prove that I'm the greatest shipper of Queen Charming, I don't know what else will." Said Briar, exhaustion clear in her voice.

"Well, there is plenty of really good stuff that people are submitting in. This competition is going to be the toughest one that I'm ever going to judge. But, as I'm the daughter of the one and only Goldilocks, it's guaranteed that I'll find the one which is just right! You know what; there are bazillions of people that have signed up for my blog just to see what the newest happening with Queen Charming is. My user's quota has gone up by 167%!" said Blondie happily.

"That's really good to hear, Blondie. I ship Queen Charming more than my affiliation with glass footwear!" giggled Ashlynn.

Apple's head was hurting. The last thing she needed was...

"Hey Briar! Could I talk to you for a sec?"

Speak of the devil.

Darling Charming.

Her ARCH NEMESIS.

"Sure Darling. Watcha want?"

"Um, you see, I wanted to get Raven some flowers, but they usually wilt in her presence, you know? So I thought I'd make her some silk roses, so that she could keep them forever after. And I thought, since you know a lot about roses and stuff, maybe you would consider helping me out?"

"OH MY GODS YES! I mean, sure Darling, what colours do you have in mind?"

Apple decided to leave before she broke something.


	3. Chapter 2

Hey everyone, it's Aquila here again, with a brand new chapter for you folks. I got around 300 views and I'm in a hexcellent mood right now, so I decided to put this together. I'm also working on some Queen Charming fluffics and one shots, because all of you seem to like this ship so much. You can send me prompts and requests through your reviews, and I'll be glad to write them for you. Keep reading and never stop reviewing!

Chapter 2

Apple was in a really foul mood.

Usually, she loved her princessology classes. She was soon going to rule over a kingdom after all. Before Darling had arrived from her adventures in wonderland as the white knight, Apple had been the White Queen's best student. She smiled the perfect princess smiles, knew how to walk with dignity and poise, just like a proper queen. She knew how to wear her crown so as to not get a cricked neck, and the right way to sit down regally on a throne.

When Darling came, all of that changed. Suddenly, she found herself forgotten in the dust. Darling was a Charming, whatever Apple had done before, Darling did ten times better. What pricked Apple the most though, was the fact that Darling didn't care about any of these classes. The one thing that she lived for was hero training lessons and dragon games practice. Apple had worked really hard to excel in princessology and kingdom management but Darling just aced them without even trying.

"Apple White, are you paying attention to what I am teaching?"

Flushed and embarrassed, Apple buried her nose in her book.

Just then, the bell rang. Apple flung herself off her throne in the most un-princess like way and bolted out of the room.

What she saw in the hallway certainly didn't help things.

There was a huge crowd surrounding Raven's locker. Apple negotiated around them to get a better view.

Raven had just opened her locker, to get the surprise of her lifetime.

Her locker was filled with heart shaped gingerbread cookies covered with thick, royal blackcurrant icing. There was a small tag attached to them – 'With love, from your Prince Charming- Darling.'

"Do you like them?"

Raven spun around to face Darling herself.

"How did you know that these were my favourite treats in the entire world?"

"A little raven told me" Darling laughed, and the said rather seriously, "That wasn't the only thing I got you though,"

She dropped suddenly onto one knee, like the day she asked if she could be her Prince Charming in the castleteria. With a flourish, she pulled out a gigantic bouquet of flowers from behind her back.

Apple recognised them as the silk roses Darling had been enquiring about to Briar the day before at the Hocus Latte. Much to Apple's chagrin and disappointment, they looked truly beautiful. The most perfect flowers for the most gorgeous girl.

All of the roses were a deep shade of violet with a few odd black petals, the exact colour and shade of Raven's hair. Right in the middle of the bouquet, there was a bunch of electric blue roses in the shape of a heart.

"This is to show you that I will always love you Raven, because you have truly captured my heart."

That was when Raven lunged forward to kiss Darling.

"Move out of the way people! I need to take a picture of this!" Blondie pushed through the crowd, scattering the people left, right and centre like ninepins. She hurried forward with a microphone, Dexter carrying a mirror pad behind her.

"Hello again, folks! Once again, this is Blondie Locks with another romantic moment for all of you. Queen Charming, the most spellebrated power couple of Ever After High as well the most of the Fairytale World's OTP for life according to my polls, has just kissed! Darling has presented her wonderlandiful girlfriend – the one and only Raven Queen with a spelltacular bouquet of beautiful silk roses with a deep inner meaning to them and has also surprised her with a locker full of her most favourite treats. How simply charming!"

"And now, I've made this very special long-awaited feature on all of your reactions to Queen Charming. Maddie, you're on!"

"Well, I think this is the most teariffic thing that has ever happened since the invention of double chocolate chip cookies and mint tea! I feel so happy for Raven, and Darling is the most caring and thoughtful girlfriend anyone could ask for, well, apart from Kitty of course," chirped Maddie.

"I must say that I agree." purred Kitty in the background.

"Cupid, you're on!"

"You can never shy away from true love." said Cupid smiling. "Queen Charming is a match made in Olympus."

"Up next is Briar Beauty!"

"You want to know what I think? This is the most spelltacular thing that has ever happened in my life, even more hexciting than my parties! I SHIP THEM! QUEEN CHARMING 4 LIFE!"

"Rosabella, you're on!"

"Whenever I look at Darling, I see this beautiful warm glowing aura of true love and devotion. I've never seen any emotion this pure in ages."

"That's awesome! Up next is Daring Charming. We're on a roll!"

"I must say that I am hextremely proud of having Darling for a sister. I ship Queen charming almost as much as I love seeing my reflection in my mirror. Say, my hair really is very shiny, don't you think?" Daring said, as he checked his face in his mirror for the umpteenth time.

"Cedar, what do you think?"

"I think that Queen Charming is perfect, no lie! My portrait's turning out to be really amazing too..."

"Yes, yes. We can hear about your portrait later. Moving on to the next candidate – Apple White!" interrupted Blondie.

Apple stared at the mirror pad in Dexter's hands like deer caught in headlights. Blondie shoved the mic into her face and looked at her expectantly.

"Oh, would you look at the time! I'm getting really late for damsel – in – distressing class. Got to dash, Bye!"

Apple ran off, leaving a very confused Blondie behind with Dexter scratching his head.

Damsel – in – distressing class was even worse.

They were learning how to look pretty and pitiful when chained to a rock while their prince slayed the dragon and saved them.

"Ladies, remember to smile and swoon when your prince unshackles you. And now, for a demonstration, can we have..."

Maid Marian's eyes swept over the crowd of eager Royals and bored Rebels.

"Raven, if you could come up here please!"

Raven sighed, and then walked reluctantly up to the rock, putting each foot in front of her really slowly. The chains sprang to life and bound themselves tight around Raven's ankles and wrists.

"Oh gee, I'm going to get eaten alive by a dragon, boo hoo hoo. Some prince come save me!"

"I need more life in that voice, Raven! And do try to look more appealing." called out Maid Marian

Just then, Blondie came rushing towards them, her yellow locks bouncing around and her hands gesticulating wildly.

"There's a level 5 dragon alert! A huge fire breathing species has managed to burn down the dragon stables and escape. It's heading straight for the school towers!" she cried out puffing and panting, that would have done justice to the Big Bad Wolf in the three little pigs story.

Maid Marian screamed and fainted. Cerise growled and quickly lifted her up while Ramona ushered in all the students into a nearby cave.

In all the commotion, everyone forgot that one person couldn't escape. Raven was still chained to the rock. The shackles were magically hexed so that only a prince's metal sword could break them. Her magic proved ineffective against it. She tugged and pulled tirelessly but the tightly bound chains wouldn't give.

Cerise spotted her and was about to run out, when a deafening shriek pierced the air.

The ground shook beneath Raven's feet and small rocks crumbled off the cliff. The enormous dragon spewed a jet of scorching hot fire that melted the rubble at her feet. The intense heat burned her throat and the fiery smoke stung her eyes.

"Raven!" screamed Apple in despair.

And then, the unbelievable happened.

A knight in shining white armour appeared out of nowhere, his gleaming sword drawn. He swung towards the dragon's spiny horns, severing a few of them in the process. The dragon left Raven and blew flames at the troublesome knight instead. The white knight defended himself with his shield, feigned right and leapt on to the dragon's back. The enraged dragon snapped at the knight with its jaws, but the knight swung left and landed on its wing. Dragon and knight danced in a wild harmony. The dragon faltered, and the knight found his chance. He pointed his sword at the dragon's chin, the edge slowly sinking into the dragon's scaly skin. Its eyes were large and terrified.

The white knight stopped, and slowly pointed towards the dragon stables. The dragon let out a whimper, and obediently took off into the sky from whence it came.

The knight wordlessly hacked off raven's chains and held out his hand.

The now revived Maid Marian, giggled.

"Oh my, Daring, how brave you were. How did you know we were in trouble?"

The white knight took off his blue plumed helmet. Everyone gasped at the sight of white blonde hair with blue highlights.

"It's Darling actually, Darling charming. I was in hero training class when I got the alarm. I came here to save Raven."

"My hero!" murmured Raven and then hugged her.

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" the entire class except Apple cooed.

Apple was trying to keep her temper in control. Darling had saved Raven. That was good, right? But the green monster of jealousy reared its head and clawed its way around her heart. She wanted to save Raven. She wanted to hug her now. Not that sorry excuse for a princess, Darling.

But Apple couldn't say anything. Darling was just too perfect. She really was Raven's Prince Charming. And even if she did say anything, the whole school would turn against her, literally.

"Make way, everyone! I have to record this totally cute moment!" yelled Blondie, as she flipped open her mirror pad.

Raven and Darling started kissing.

Apple stomped away angrily with the intense desire to grab Blondie's mirror pad and bash in Darling's silly face.


	4. Chapter 3

Hey everyone! Aquila here, with a brand new chapter for all you folks. I'm going to my gran's place for the weekend, so I won't be able to upload my next few chapters until Monday. I'm really sorry! Hope you enjoy this one.

 **Chapter 3**

Apple stormed right down the stairs of the school, glaring at everyone who walked beside her. If she had been in a foul mood before, she was in a downright horrid one now.

She slammed through the doors that led to the school grounds and further on to the borders of the enchanted forest. She took deep breaths of the crisp autumn air, trying to cool down her irrational anger.

She heard sweet laughter floating in the air from the direction of the wonderland grove.

Apple stepped on her tippy toes and peeped over the hedge.

Maddie was sitting cross legged on a huge chequered red and white picnic blanket and was carefully pouring out cups of lemon and chamomile tea. Earl Grey was tucking into a sticky treacle tart and giving small squeaks of approval. Spread out on the blanket were lots of trays filled with shortcake, gingerbread, scones, fluffy blueberry muffins, princess and pea butter sandwiches, double chocolate chip cookies with orange rind as well as Maddie's favourite – crumpets, spread thickly with butter. Kitty was reclining on the blanket too, with her head in Maddie's lap while nibbling on a cookie. Maddie giggled and bent down to kiss the stray crumbs off Kitty's chin. Earl gray snorted in disgust before jumping into Maddie's hat. Kitty sipped her strawberry and vanilla tea thoughtfully and then suddenly leant forward to plant a wet kiss on Maddie's cheek. She purred in delight when Maddie became the same colour as the pot of strawberry jam in front of her.

Meanwhile, Earl Grey was squeaking outrageously and rummaging around in circles in Maddie's hat.

"I really like seeing you blush, but not as much as getting your precious little pet all worked up," drawled out Kitty, grinning lazily.

Just then, the teapot shrieked. Apple recognised it as the most hatastic teapot in the entire history of hatastic teapots – the one with the hand drawn fan art of Darling and Raven.

"Time for tea, time for tea – I SHIP QUEEN CHARMING!" sang the teapot.

"And what's this new flavour?" asked Kitty as she sniffed the suspiciously bright yellow liquid brewing in the pot.

"It's mango and passion fruit, a teariffic concoction me and my dad are working on." Chirped Maddie as she poured out the beverage in the never ending supply of teacups that she pulled out of her hat.

"Smells heavenly" purred Kitty as they clinked cups. The steam from the tea rose out in large hazy hearts.

Maddie giggled again before leaning in to kiss Kitty, her teacup forgotten by her side.

Earl Grey jumped out of the hat and dived towards the multi coloured bushes, cursing in a long string of riddlish.

Apple fell off her perch in the hedge startled, as Earl Grey zoomed by.

She got up and slunk off behind some trees, leaving the loud crowing laughter of Kitty Cheshire behind.

Apple wandered aimlessly around the enchanted woods, when she spotted a clearing up ahead. She parted the curtain of clambering ivy with her hands and hurriedly backtracked when she saw Hunter and Ashlynn sitting underneath a tree. Hunter drew his bow and shot a posy of flowers that landed perfectly on Ashlynn's head. She sighed dreamily when Hunter started carving their names enclosed in a big heart on the bark of the tree.

Apple turned around and started retracing her steps. She reached the lake and was about to dip her feet in, when she saw the most disturbing sight she had ever seen.

Duchess and Humphrey were making out rather sloppily behind the tall reeds.

Apple ran away trying to rid her mind of the scandalous image that seemed to be permanently branded on her brain.

It honestly wasn't Apple's favourite day at all.

Just as she thought the day couldn't get any worse, Apple realised that she was walking in an unfamiliar part of the woods. She had been so busy trying to get away from the lake that she had failed to realise in which direction she was walking in.

Apple slumped down under a tree. Her feet were sore from and her brain was filled with icky images of couples making out or cuddling.

She was about to get up and try to get her bearings when she heard sly whispering from the leafy canopy above her. She looked up and saw Cerise and Rosabella holding hands and swinging wildly on a tree branch. Apple's breath caught in her throat when she saw Rosabella slowly slipping away from Cerise and then found herself hanging on precariously to the branch, legs dangling wildly beneath her. Apple watched in alarm as Rosabella gave a loud scream and fell... right into Cerise's arms.

"Gotcha!"

Rosabella jumped off Cerise and dusted herself down, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

"Yeah, you g-got me" mumbled Rosabella, wringing her hands nervously.

Apple groaned. Great. Just what she needed. Awkward couple moments too.

She walked behind a huge wall of thorns and sighed with relief when she saw the footpath again.

It veered sharply to the left and soon, the little summer pavilion came into view.

Bunny Blanc and Alistair Wonderland were playing chess...in let's just say... a very intimate way.

Apple withdrew, feeling rather nauseated.

The last thing she needed to see was...

"Darling, stop tickling me!"

Speak of the devil.

Raven and Darling were sprawled on the forest floor, engaged in a rather intense tickling match.

Raven's boots and Darling's armour were heaped up in a clumsy pile on the side while Darling dug her hands into Raven's sides and grinned every time Raven squirmed and laughed.

"I didn't know that you were so sensitive!" chuckled Darling, thoroughly amused.

Apple ground her teeth and restrained the urge to lunge at Darling. She retreated and tried not to scream in fury. The monster of jealousy reared its head once again and roared with boiling rage inside her. It begged to be let out, but Apple bore it down. Princesses were not supposed to lose their tempers. If these instances kept on occurring though, Apple seriously considered signing up for anger management classes.


	5. Chapter 4

Hey there everyone! I felt really guilty that I had to make you wait for another 2 days before I can update again, so I, Aquila, decided to post another chapter for all you folks. It won't happen again. This chapter is rather angsty and sad, as well as being entirely in Apple's point of view and in Blondie's narrative. I'm introducing some other favourite couples of mine in this story, and some of them will play big parts in the plot. But don't worry, this story's main pairing is still Queen Charming, and that will never change. Hope you enjoy it, oh and please review and tell me if you like it!

 **Chapter 4**

Couples, couples everywhere.

They were not improving Apple's mood.

Apple tore through the undergrowth and was about to throw a super huge temper tantrum, when she heard sniffling.

She froze in her tracks, and her eyes widened comically when they landed on a crouched figure with tumbling yellow locks.

She knew only one person with hair as curly and gold like that.

"Blondie!?"

The hunched figure jolted up and Apple flinched at seeing the wild, messy locks and the tear tracks staining her face.

"Blondie?" she said it gentler this time.

"Apple?" Blondie whispered. "What are you doing over here?"

Apple knelt down and pulled Blondie into a hug.

"Why are you crying?"

Blondie hiccupped, and blew her nose noisily into her blue and white handkerchief bordered with cute bears.

"It's just ... Love hurts doesn't it?"

Apple arched an eyebrow in surprise. Blondie was wasting tears over love troubles?

Now that was new.

"It's like someone's forcing me to eat bland porridge and cold porridge and burnt porridge all at once. And it's definitely not just right!"

Apple steadied Blondie and made her look at her straight in the eye.

"Who is this about, Blondie?"

Blondie bit her lip, sighed, and whispered...

"Cupid."

WHAT?

"Wait a spell, Cupid? As in THE CUPID!? You have a crush on CUPID – the adopted daughter of Eros, the god of love?! As in the very same Cupid?" Apple asked shrilly in varying tones of ultra Sonics.

A flock of birds took off in a fright.

"Do you want the entire forest to know?" whisper shouted Blondie fiercely.

"NO! I mean, no! What happened?" asked Apple.

"It's just; I have this huge crush on Cupid. And I only realised like, right now. And it's really heartbreaking, 'cause..."

Blondie sneezed into her handkerchief.

Apple waited patiently.

"Well, because Cupid just got together with Dexter."

Oh. Shit.

"I should feel really happy for her now, right? And believe me, I was. Dexter was down in the dumps because of Raven getting together with Darling. I mean, it would be like, such a total bummer right? Your own twin getting the girl you've been crushing on for like, forever after."

Apple took in a sharp breath.

"Well, Cupid's been in love with Dex ever since she transferred here during throne coming. Most girls would jump at the chance to get the guy when he's free. But Cupid's not like that. Guess that's why I fell in love with her." Blondie gave a bittersweet smile.

"She was really upset that Dex was so broken over Raven. All she ever wanted was for him to be happy, even if it was with another girl and not her. So she spent all of her time comforting him and helping get over it. She used to fret about it to me at night, saying that stewing over and brooding about failed relationships wasn't healthy, and that she wished she could do anything to make him happy again."

"And that was when I began realising little things. The way her wavy pink hair bounces around when she's hexcited about a potential relationship. The way how her aqua blue eyes shine when she's truly happy. The way she wears her lipstick right in the centre in the shape of a heart. The way she hovers off the ground with her ivory feathered wings. The way she randomly starts doodling when she's bored or daydreaming. Her selfless attitude. Her love for love. Her all together cutie pie personality. I could go on and on and on..."

"But before I could get to terms with what I was discovering about myself, Dexter asked Cupid out. I was in the bathroom when it happened. Dexter came in and announced that he finally found out something. The smoke screen had fallen away. He realised at last to whom all those 'feelings' he had had been directed to. His dormant emotions had resurfaced. Then, he apologised for bothering her and grieving over Raven and that his heart was actually aching for someone else, and that all of her love advice made sense."

"Cupid said that she was really happy to know that Dexter was moving on, but you could hear the heartbreak clear in her voice. I was really angry; Dexter had no right to mess around with her feelings like that. Then, he announced that Cupid herself was the one and only person that he could ever have eyes for, and then Cupid was like 'Oh Dex, you have no idea how long I waited for you to say that!'

Blondie paused. Apple cringed.

'Then, I was in a dilemma. Should I tell Cupid that I've been harbouring feelings for her and ruin her chance with Dexter? Or should I pretend to feel happy for her, be her roommate and nothing else, hide my ever growing love for her while having minor breakdowns in the enchanted forest where no one could find me? I decided on the latter. And it's what I've been doing ever since. Pretty pathetic, huh? I finally found the person that was just right for me and I let her go, because she could never be truly happy with me as she is with someone else."

"Oh Blondie." whispered Apple.

"It just hurts Apple, it hurts so much. You have no idea. Only a person who has actually experienced the whole magnitude of painful unrequited love could ever understand."

But Apple did know. She did understand. She knew just how much unrequited love could hurt.

It was what she felt every single day.


	6. Chapter 5

Hey folks, Aquila here, with chapter 5 for all of you. I'm really sorry if I upset any of you in my previous chapter, I really didn't mean to. A line in Blondie's narrative is really very important for one of my upcoming chapters, so I needed her to experience a minor breakdown. I felt really sorry for Blondie, so I made her fall for another fairytale character who is also experiencing the same type of feelings. And that person is... ok, I think I'm spilling all the juicy secrets of future chapters here. This chapter is entirely in Blondie's narrative for a change. It has been getting rather tiresome to write on and on in Apple's POV. In fact, all of my chapters have been in Apple's POV, except the prologue, which was in Raven's. So now' the time for a change! Read on to find out more, and don't forget to review!

 **Chapter 5**

Blondie felt vulnerable.

That horrible, heart wrenching conversation with Apple definitely hadn't felt just right. More like just wrong!

She had revealed every single insecurity to her, and it left her feeling exposed, weak and susceptible.

She felt like she had been scrubbed to the bone, cleansed of all her dirty secrets. All of her walls had been broken down. All the deceptive smoke screens had been cleared away. She felt naked. Someone else now knew of her thoughts, crushed hopes and shattered dreams. It felt like she had been dragged over a rugged asphalt road, her skin torn and scraped and cut, bloody and raw.

Blondie was defenceless.

She couldn't pretend to smile, or swing her yellow locks and walk away with her heart breaking a bit more every time she saw Dexter and Cupid share a romantic moment, or make goo goo eyes at each other, or help each other with their homework while secretly sharing a few kisses behind their textbooks.

She was unguarded, unprotected – out in the wide open like a sitting duck.

"Hey."

Blondie looked up into glassy blue eyes.

"You blanked out for a while there, it kind of scared me."

Apple was gently shaking her shoulders, trying to pull her out of her crazy suicidal thoughts.

Blondie pasted on her best forced fake smile, she had mastered the art of doing that ever since Dexter and Cupid got together.

"I'm feeling fine now, c'mon, let's go get dinner. The sun will be setting soon."

Judging by the incredulous expression on Apple's face, she really didn't believe her.

"Really Blondie? I found you going through the major mental breakdown, then you poured out your heart to me about your love troubles and the fiasco that is your life, and then you put an obviously fake smile, and suddenly say that everything is good, and that you're feeling fine?"

"Everything is perfectly fine, Apple"

"Do you really expect me to believe that?"

Blondie looked her stubbornly in the eye.

"Come on, Blondie! Even the three blind mice would be able to see that you are most certainly not just right!"

Blondie grit her teeth.

"Just let it go, Apple. Forget about everything that I told you."

"WHAT!"

"You don't know how it feels Apple! You never will!"

"Well, your life isn't the only one that is peachy right now!"

"Well, what's worse than seeing the one that you love date someone else? What's worse than seeing the one that you love kissing someone that isn't you? What's worse than seeing the one you love hugging intimately person with a person that you dislike? What's worse than seeing the one that you love holding hands in public with person that you _hate with a vengeance? YOU TELL ME APPLE !"_

Blondie roared, her face twisted and contorted into a mask of fury.

She and Apple stared at each other for what felt like forever after.

Then, Apple spoke, her normally sweet syrupy voice strangled into a bare, hoarse whisper.

"No, there's nothing worse than that."

Apple shuddered.

"You're right, the sun's setting, and it's getting chilly. We should head back."

Blondie gazed at Apple with a puzzled look of confusion on her face. She thought that Apple would scream back at her and put up a better fight, not just give in suddenly without a word.

She shrugged it off as one of Apple's weird mannerisms. Maybe she didn't want to make a scene and lose her cool. She was meant to be princess after all.

Speaking of which - as of lately, Apple had not been acting like her usual self at all, and the way she ran off without giving a proper reply to Blondie's question of her feelings about Queen Charming for her special feature on everyone's reactions to the fairytale world's most spellebrated OTP was just plain befuddling.

But it had felt remarkably good to unload her huge burden of worries and insecurities and to finally talk about her problems to someone – even if that said person was a self centred little princess called Apple White.

Blondie sighed, and shuffled down the grassy path that led to the castleteria with heavy, leaden feet. All of that walking, tantrum throwing, talking, thinking, crying and screaming had taken up a lot of her energy.

And she was starving.

Blondie pushed open the oaken doors that led to the castleteria, wondering what was on the menu and guessing what would be just right to her Goldilocks sense.

She tapped her foot impatiently as the lunch ladies dished out dinner. Blondie winced when it landed with a splat on her plate. It certainly didn't look that appetising. Maybe she should air a special show on the benefits of delicious dinners or maybe write out a petition for allowing porridge of the exact temperature and amount of sugar and golden syrup as the little bear had in her story as one of the main items of the dinner menu. She could get everyone to sign it before presenting it to Headmaster Grimm. Then, they would have the luxury of eating heavenly porridge for dinner as well as breakfast, instead of the disgusting slimy specimens that they called 'food'.

She turned around and negotiated her way through the overcrowded castleteria.

Note to self – do a feature on the need of the hour for a more comfortable and roomy dining space.

Then, she caught sight of a particular table.

And she immediately wished that she hadn't.


	7. Chapter 6

Hey everyone, Aquila here !

I've finally managed to upload chapter 6 ! This varies a lot with narratives from a few new characters. (You can find out below!)

Enjoy this while you still can, because I won't be able to upload much frequently anymore, as I'm quickly nearing the end of collage. As much as I would like to write this shin ding all day long and crazily scribble away in my jotter when the bird of inspiration lands and lays eggs of awesome ideas on my head, I do have to read up my dust laden, long written notes and actually study! I'm practically not meant to be here right now and should have my nose buried in my books. The same goes for Anne - my very good friend and other twin separated at birth (she's the kinder one of both of us. )

I've been illegally sneaking away at night to write this out, so don't come break the glass windows off my house with bricks if you don't see my new chapter anytime soon. Before, I had been updating every day, if you go by Czech timings, so don't get off kilter if you don't see my next chapters as soon as you'd like to !

 **Chapter 6**

Ginger was lonely.

It was a feeling that she was very familiar with, ever since she had been a little cookie.

First of all, there was the undeniable fact that she was the daughter of the evil candy witch of Hansel and Gretel's story. And by evil, she meant Evil with a capital E.

That by itself gave nearly everyone a sense of apprehension. But coupled with the fact that her mother was a fairytale villain, with a disastrous reputation in cooking class-ic when she had been at Ever After High (The fact that she had aced potion making and mastered the art of administering poisons only made the situation worse), a house deep in the wild woods, as well being best friends with the Hood family, not to mention her mother having that stupid weakness of slipping people baked goods with secret spells cooked in them. All of this made the other so called 'good' fairy tale creatures shriek and break for it, or else chase her with burning torches and pitchforks.

It also made little Hans and Greta - the Hansel and Gretel of her story – running away as fast as their little legs could carry them, screaming guttural screams of terror in warped German accents as soon as they set eyes on Ginger – even when she was smiling sweetly and holding out a plate of freshly baked cinnamon cookies.

Ginger sighed. She stared at the glassy reflection of herself in her silvery cupcake shaped mirror. Did her smile really look like a creepy, evil grin that said "I'm going to eat you up!" ? Was that why Hans and Greta always ran away from her?

Resigned, Ginger got up and headed to the bathroom. She desperately needed to wash her hair and take a good long bath. Her hair was a sticky, greasy, ragged mess - streaked with white self raising flour and drenched in lemon orange citrus filling and slopped all over with thick maple syrup. The remnants of a smashed egg yolk dripped down the side of her ear. Her apron looked like a dish wash rag – stained with a medley of different colours of food colouring. Her brand new tights were covered in apricot glaze. A limp buttered pancake was hanging off one side of her high heel. Her face was the worst. One part of it was hidden under a layer of rich butter cream frosting and the other side was dripping with cooking chocolate. The remains of a sugared donut were encrusted on her chin, like the rim of a dirty plate. A splat of chunky strawberry jam on her face completed the overall effect of a hideous monster.

Ginger's soul was crying. It didn't matter whether she was a monster or not, she certainly looked like one now.

She gazed at the conglomeration of colours that was her face. What it needed was soap, water and some Christian tolerance.*

The events that led to her look like she hid in garbage cans for a living was branded and emblazoned in her mind. She doubted whether she would ever forget the utter humiliation she had suffered.

 _-Flashback-_

Ginger had just finished baking all her favourite treats. She gazed fondly at the beautiful array of chocolate éclairs, bonbons, jellies, jam tarts, donuts covered with powdered sugar, marzipan fruit and a massive Victoria sponge cake with citrus filling and a generous dressing of melted chocolate on the large tea tray.

She wandered down the long corridor carefully balancing the tea tray in her hands, it was rather heavy.

Faces of fairytale creatures all with the same hostile look peeped at her from behind the door and then proceeded to quickly slam them shut. Ginger sighed, her face downcast and hesitantly carried on walking.

She perked up a bit when she noticed Hans and Greta perched precariously on a window sill chomping voraciously on cheese straws and walnut muffins. Sure, they always ran away, but maybe, just maybe, they would try one of her treats before bolting. Maybe they might find them really spellicious and come back for more. Maybe...

She walked over to them quietly and held out her tray.

"Have some." She offered with a gentle smile.

Hans and Greta looked up at her with their pasty fat faces and beady currant eyes.

Suddenly, Greta shrieked, her face morphing into mask of pure horror.

Hans screamed too.

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH !" He yelled. "Leave us alone, you evil witch!"

Before Ginger could react, Hans grabbed all the dishes off the tray and threw them at her one after one at her with extreme precision.

It all happened so very fast.

Sweet after sweet splattered on her shoes, her apron, her face, her hair. Ginger tried putting up her hands to defend herself, but she didn't even stand a chance against Hans' fiery onslaught.

As if this weren't enough, Hans kept on screaming a slew of terrible words at her. Greta kept on yelling as though the sky were about to fall down.

A few words jumped out at her. Most of it was a string of German curses. But the one that hurt the most was-

"You're a MONSTER! Stay away from me! Leave Greta alone!"

They hurt much more than the flying arsenal of sweets did.

Suddenly, an unexpected voice called out.

"WHAT is the MEANING of THIS MESS ?!"

Headmaster Grimm stood framed in the hallway, with a scary, disapproving frown etched across his face. Steam seemed to be pouring out of his ears and the tips of his ears were red. There were bright spots of colour in each of his cheeks and his drooping moustache bristled with rage. Ginger swore she could see flecks of spit shooting out of mouth.

"WELL ?"

"It was her! Witch Breadhouse! She attacked us and tried to poison us with her food and then, she tried to eat us up !" blurted out Hans in one long breath. Greta nodded, and hiccupped tearfully.

Headmaster Grimm turned to face Ginger.

"I understand you are very eager to poison people Miss Breadhouse. It is, after all, your destiny to be the next Candy witch. But please restrain yourself until your story starts. You do not want to kill off your main characters before that, do you? I do not want to see this type of behaviour again." He said sternly, before striding away.

- _End of flashback-_

Ginger limped into the bathroom, shaking her head to try to rid herself of those horrible memories. A few drops of syrup splashed on to the tiles.

She ran the hot water and then peeled off her mucky damp clothes with difficulty. She checked the clock. Another 45 minutes until dinner. Plenty of time to indulge herself, she thought. She poured in some bubble bath liquid, some lavender bath salts and a handful of dried flowers. She carefully lit some vanilla scented tea lights and arranged them around the edge.

Slowly, leisurely, she climbed into the bath, one foot after the other. She revelled in the luxurious feeling of the silky smooth water on her skin.

She reached for the bar of lemon soap and lathered herself all over. She grabbed the bottle of muscle relaxation body wash too and rubbed it in with her fluffy sponge. Just as she was foaming up her hair with her special cotton candy shampoo, there was a slamming of a door and the sudden loud beat of a catchy tune reverberating through the empanelled invisible speakers.

"You in there, Ginger?" Melody's voice sang out.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming out. Give me a sec!"

Ginger sighed and broke out of her euphoria wonderland.

She hurriedly cleansed her hair with her handheld shower, climbed out the bathtub and wrapped herself in a bathrobe.

Melody was stretched full length on the bed in her signature Goth chic clothes, her ever present headphones jammed on her head, blissfully ignorant of what was going around her.

"Hey Mel, How did your date go with Meeshell today?"

Melody didn't seem to hear her, and then started to rap out a rapid number on her bedside table.

Ginger sighed. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

She dressed herself in her favourite chocolate coloured dress with its bands of sparkly hundreds and thousands sprinkles. Then, she grabbed her black cardigan and slipped on her custard yellow heels. She looked at her reflection in the mirror critically. Not the best, just average. Well, at least she wasn't covered in baking ingredients now. She pulled her pink wavy hair into two pigtails and put on her cupcake hair band. She had once thought of curling her hair to make it look like strawberry candy floss, but then decided not to make herself look more deranged or scarier than usual.

" You coming, Mel?"

Melody continued rapping to her song.

Ginger moved to her desk and pulled out a biscuit tin filled with sticky pieces of gingerbread covered in generous amounts of treacle.

"Here, eat this. The castleteria's food isn't that good anyway."

Melody looked at the tin proffered. She gave a guilty smile.

"Um, no thanks. I'll come down."

Ginger felt hurt.

Then, she grit her teeth. She should have expected it.

Ginger walked into the cramped castleteria, and picked up her tray. She went to sit down next to Cerise, her acquaintance of sorts. She didn't run away screaming. That was a good start.

After a few minutes, Ginger gave up on her food.

There was some kind of slimy stew with string beans and Brussels sprouts floating in a pool of vinegar. The steamed potatoes had hearts of stone and simply refused to be cut with a knife. They skidded off her plate on her 4th attempt. There was some kind of watery cabbage soup too which Ginger refused to touch. The poached fillet of cod lay limp and unappetising. For desert, there was a suspicious looking milk pudding.

Cerise was gazing dreamily at the distance, in some sort of trance. It didn't seem to be a spell, though. More like...she drew an imaginary line from Cerise to the subject of her intense concentration...

...Rosabella ?

One sided attraction, huh?

Well, Ginger knew plenty about that.

Her eyes moved to another table.

This one was occupied by only two people, or one couple – choose your pick.

The table was strung with heart shaped bunting and a huge crystal vase of roses. There were placemats, linen napkins in neat napkin rings, silver cutlery, wine glasses, finger bowls, pink candles in Italian Chianti bottles...and was that a freakin' ICE sculpture?

And in the middle – C. and Dexter Charming were French kissing, you know, with the tongues and all. Freakin' FRENCH KISSING. A plate of forgotten spaghetti Bolognese sat in between them.

Just a few metres from the table stood Blondie Lockes. She was stock still, stiff as a ramrod. Her face was ashen, a sickly green colour. She had an unreadable emotion on her face.

What on earth?

...oh.

A splintering crash startled everyone into silence.

Everyone except Cupid and Dexter, who were still kissing, mouths glued to each other. And oh gods, was that a moan?

Blondie's tray had smashed on the ground, the remnants of her dinner pooling pitifully around her feet.

Blondie turned around in one fluid motion and flounced out of the room, oaken doors banging shut behind her.

Ginger immediately leapt off her stool and ran for the castleteria doors.

She turned around, wondering where she could've gone. Then, she saw a glimpse of blue around the corner, the corridor leading to the vegetable gardens and further on into the woods.

Ginger hurried after her into the bitingly cold air. The wind mercilessly whipped her hair around. A raindrop fell on her nose.

She sighed. Of all times, did meteorology have to prove its might now?

It began drizzling. Thunder roared. A jagged fork of lightning lit up the sky in a dazzling bright white.

In the sudden illuminating flash, Ginger spotted swinging blonde curls and a blue petticoat.

She screamed into the night.

"BLONDIE ! WAIT ! DON'T GO !"

*this is one of my favourite lines from my all time favourite book – 'The bell jar' by Sylvia Plath.


	8. Chapter 7

Hey everyone !

Aquila here again.

I really hope you liked the previous chapter, especially after the grueling wait I put all of you through. I'll try my best to not abandon my stories (especially this one !) at critical parts of the plot. The only reason why I decided to come back and drag my unwilling self to the computer to draft out another chapter was because of all of you folk – my faithful readers - who kept on sending me messages and mail as to why I left. Thank you all a tonne !

Hope you like this chapter and let me know. I'm pretty fed up of thinking in Apple's mindset, it's pretty annoying. But don't worry – there will be lots of chapters in Apple's perspective. There will be some in other characters too. Please read and review ! ;)

Oh, and don't forget to answer my question at the end !

 **Chapter 7**

Meteorology was a funny thing.

You could never trust it.

Cedar stared out at the horizon.

But oh, what inspiration it gave !

The sky was grey and fuming with rain. It wasn't the nice kind of rain that rinses you clean, but the sort of rain that she thought they must have in Brazil. It flew straight down from the sky in drops the size of coffee saucers. * The precipitation fell all at once, in a great deluge. It was like a hole had ruptured in the sky, and whatever liquid that lay beyond decided to flow down and wreak havoc on poor, unsuspecting denizens.

The thunder rolled and rumbled, rebounding and reverberating between the densely packed cumulo nimbus clouds. The clouds themselves were towering, horrific shapes – blotting out the inky blue sky behind them. They were all kinds of colours – ranging from a tinny grey to liquid mercury to shining silver.

But the part that Cedar loved best, the most exhilarating part – was yet to come.

And then, it did.

A dazzlingly bright white bolt of lightning forked across the landscape, splitting the sky in half. It descended, a heavenly thing, lighting up the world for a moment – a world which was now sunk in a sea of perpetual darkness.

Then, Cedar saw something rather unusual. Decidedly out of place.

A person with buttery yellow locks, now hanging limp as fish, and a blue dress was running wildly, rampant, not even noticing where she was going. She was like an ox, hurtling deep into the woods in a blind rage.

Following her was another girl, this one in a sodden black jacket and with raspberry pink hair. She was screaming something unintelligible. Something like –

"WAIT ! STOP !"

Cedar looked at them with open curiosity. They seemed to have taken leave of their senses, running into a torrential thunderstorm like that. Especially at this time of night...

...wait a minute, what was the time?

She glanced at her alarm clock.

08:15 ? !

How ?

Cedar wrenched her eyes from the window, pausing just a second to appreciate the soothing feel of the cool raindrops on her skin. Was it skin really? Or was it wood shavings?

With a groan, she fastened the glass panes, and drew the heavy brocade curtains. She had missed dinner...again. It wasn't the first time. Ever since she had got to work on her...ahem, super secret project, she had been frequently missing meals, daydreaming in classes and had been borderline introverted towards her friends – especially Raven, who she avoided like the plague. She was so scared that she'd give it all away – and then all the careful preparations Briar had gone through would go to hell. Sometimes, her genetic ability to never speak an untruth definitely presented its demerits.

Cedar looked at herself in the mirror.

She wasn't a drop dead gorgeous girl, she never had been. She wasn't particularly cute or adorable either. She didn't think herself ugly per se, more like she looked...well... plain.

The ill amount of sleep she was getting, the deficient amounts of proper food and the continuous work showed its effect. She had deep purplish bags under her eyes which looked more like unhealed bruises. Her hair was lank, and she had grown a bit thin and haggard. She had a constant ache in her back after bending over an easel all the time, and she had all sorts of knots and kinks in her neck after falling asleep in all kinds of positions over her paintbrushes.

Cedar gave a crooked grin. It was all worth it.

After all, Raven was one of her best friends, and she shipped Queen Charming as though her life depended on it.

She twisted around on her stool, and surveyed the mess – no, organized chaos – on her part of the bedroom floor. It was covered in a medley of paint brushes in all sorts of sizes (some with the dried paint still unwashed), paint tubes, paint pots, filthy blotched rags, messy paint palettes in wood and plastic, jars of opened turpentine, charcoal sticks, a jumbled variety of lead pencils and a wooden jointed model figurine with one of its limbs wrenched off.

She scrutinised it.

Now where did that tube of viridian green go ?

* * *

Blondie ran.

She ran with the urgency of someone who was running for their life.

What was she running way from exactly ?

She had no clue.

Was it the disgusting castleteria food ? Or was it Dexter (A.K.A the boy she loathed and hated and so many more other words that were the synonym of 'hate') and Cupid (A.K.A the girl she loved) kissing the living daylights out of each other ?

She hoped and prayed that it was the former.

Her heart stung.

Nope. Decidedly the latter. DECIDEDLY the latter. Definitely.

Taking in quick breaths while she was running felt like swallowing knives. Her chest was rising and heaving and aching horribly. Her heart hurt the worst.

Her soaked, bedraggled, baby blue petticoats kept on dragging her down and making her slower. They clung uncomfortably to her skin like some kind of sick tattoo. Her damp yellow ringlets hung forlornly like a gold banner behind her. Her white stockings got dirtier by the minute as her shoes pounded into the dirt path filled with muddy puddles before her.

The scene of Dexter and Cupid French snogging, (more like sucking the faces off, if you asked her) was burnt into her retinas, and her brain refused to make her forget, at least temporarily, the sick image. The fancy expensive Italian dinner setting with all of its cut glass and romantic candles straight out of a fairytale (how ironic !) didn't help either.

Hadn't she suffered enough?

All of those one sided, unreciprocated feelings...

All of those heart wrenching moments when she realised that she had fallen miserably in love...

All of those lingering, persistent doubts about herself and her sexuality...

The moment she heard that Dexter actually loved Cupid, and not Raven as she had thought...

The moment that she heard Cupid say "Oh Dex, you have no idea how long I've waited for you say that!"...

The poignant reminders that Cupid was Dexter's now...

The fact that she couldn't do anything about it...

The love addled dreams and fantasies that haunted her living being as well as her sleeping one...

All of that painful talking with Cupid she had gone through where she had gushed about how wonderful Dexter was...

At the same time cherishing those moments with her, because she knew she could never get those back again...

All of those lovesick moments between the couple that she had endured - all of the goo goo eyes, the swift pecks, the bear hugs, the love poems pinned on lockers...

That grueling supposedly 'special' interview she had done with the couple for her mirror blog...

All those times where she had to physically restrain herself from tearing Dexter away from Cupid and replacing him with herself...

All of those horrid breakdowns she had experienced when she simply couldn't take it anymore...

The feeling of utter loneliness...

The guilt and the utter shame when she had succumbed to staring at Cupid long after she had drifted off to sleep...

The self reproach she had felt when she 'accidentally' sneaked out one of Cupid's skirts and slept with it stuffed under her pillow...

The salty bitter tears she had shed in the woods when she had turned in to an overemotional wreck...

The excruciating arduous pain she had felt when she sobbed out the sorry pathetic story of her life to Apple...

The broken soul she had concealed behind the fake smiles that she had carefully pasted on her face...

The slow feeling as though she were being tortured when she had seen Dexter and Cupid French kissing and moaning, a new level in their relationship...

Wasn't that more than enough for one individual ? Were the spirits of fate really that cruel ?

Apparently, they were.

Because just that second, a lightning bolt came out of nowhere and set the tall oak tree that stood just a few metres from her _ablaze_.

* * *

Well, did you like it ? Please let me know ! ;)

Oh and please answer this:

Which character's narrative do you want in future chapters ?

It could be any EAH character. I'll definitely consider all of your choices. In fact, I'll wait until You tell me what character you want. Then, I'll go ahead with future chapters. It's just a small thing I wanted to ask all of you. Thanks a tonne !

*another line for 'The bell jar'. I freakin' love that novel !


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